I am an American citizen who moved to Argentina for work related matters. At the middle of the year me and my sister (Maria A. Mateos/Fernandez) began looking into into international shipping services that would bring out personal effects, as well as our vehicles from the states to Argentina. We came across this ad that was in an Argentine/Uruguayan newspaper that we found at the Argentine embassy (for which I must confess: they are very unethical and inoperable, but now that I am living in Argentina I can see why they're like that). The ad gave out very competitive prices/offers for sending personal effects ( as well as vehicles) from the states to Argentina, but didn't mention (not even in fine print) that there were hidden fees involved. I can't even stress how high these fees were. Just imagine, i had to dig up finances that were very important for me to pay my living expenses as well as traveling expenses.
We (my sister and I) began to contact IMEX SHIPPING INC. to gather up some information as well as references. Mr. Frank Pablo Morales, had referred us to someone (who according to him was a prior client of business who had supposedly sent their belongings to Argentina like we would have to) who in the end we found out was his daughter Daniela who works for him. We found this out when it was already too late. Our containers were already in Argentina. Since Daniela did such a great job influencing us to do business with "IMEX" cause of their great services and competitive prices we decided to go along with them and ship our things over to Argentina using IMEX Shipping Inc . We have proof of receipts and documentation from Maersk of the total amount of money we would have to pay, which does not mention any hidden fees, contracts and/or collect charges. None of these receipts are in compliance with The Federal Maritime Commission's Tariff.
According to the FMC inspector general, the first document to be provided to a customer must be an official BOL (Bill Of Lading) detailing all services rendered and all fees charges with descriptive details. In the event that any extra handling services be charged to a customer at destination, in this case this charges would be charged by the terminal's port and it would not have anything to do with the shipper. To me is a bit awkward how MAERSK Line would charge me for services directly when really their business deal was directly with Mr. Pablo Frank Morales from IMEX Shipping Inc. When I confronted MAESRK Line about this they told me that it was as simple as it sounded, if I didn't pay the fees I would not retrieve the container, I answered to the rep. (Marcelo, Manager in charge) will this means you re ripping me off and he said oh well, this men deserves to go to prison just for even disrespecting a customer in this way.
It has now been two weeks since this happened and I am still left without any solutions, answers, or even a decent explanation. I am in debt with a family member because of this situation and the fact that Argentine Customs are so corrupt that they want to put barriers in every step needed to relieve the container for the simple purpose of collecting money underneath the table. This moving has cost me over USD 3,500 my sister spent over USD 4,000 and I did meet a few others at the port of Buenos Aires, Argentina who like us have been ripped off as well trying to release their containers with their belongings. By the way I want to mention that is very sickening how these workers who call themselves " Customs Officials" treat people, they laugh in people's face saying things like " oh well in our warehouse we have many people's belongings that were not retrieved by them because they couldn't afford it, so it's that simple you either pay or you loose everything to us" with a grin in their face, this is only some of the comments they make to you when trying to retrieve your belongings which is non other than personal effects.
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